Chapter 7 offers a lot of information about educational software. I found the section on educational games to be the most interesting, due to the fact that video games are extremely popular and I think students could benefit greatly by playing these games. I grew up playing video games. While I loved being outside, when it got dark I would come inside and play video games for several hours. Educational video games were not very commonplace back when I was young, but I can only imagine how involved I would have become if I had the opportunity to play a game that would help me with math, or science, or English.
If we as future teachers are honest with ourselves, we will realize that holding a student's attention can become quite difficult at times. Students often have other things on their mind, and their attention my wander to things outside of the classroom. However, I feel that if students had an opportunity during a portion of the school day to play an interactive game that helped them to learn a certain skill or set of skills, they would benefit from it greatly because their attention would be focused on the game. They would actually be learning without feeling like they were putting in immense effort.
The game that we covered in class the other day offers a good example of this. Students will spend a lot of time playing it and having fun, without realizing that they are increasing their knowledge or reasoning skills. A lot of teaching has to do with how we present the information being learned. As we know, a teacher who is enthusiastic and comes up with creative ways to teach their students will engage more of their students than a teacher who uses "chalk and talk." Games take on the role of (but of course do not replace) an educator who uses fun and innovative ways of teaching. I think the possibilities for this are nearly limitless, and the future will reveal where educational games progress to.
Questions:
1. How can teachers persuade parents that a video game might actually be helping their child learn something?
2. Who should be responsible for "vetting" a video game (i.e. making sure it is appropriate). Can you foresee some parents having problems with video game content, such as killing monsters like we saw in the video game in class?
Alexa thoughts
10 years ago
To answer your first question I think parents need solid evidence that proves that video games are beneficial towards their child's learning. If you are a teacher that is already using video games in the classroom show them how much it has been beneficial with the students. I also think providing them with a list of video games or computer games that have educational value is a good start. Also when they come to parent- teacher conference maybe have the parents play the computer or video game so they can test it out for themselves.
ReplyDeleteTo address your second question...
ReplyDeleteMost video games are rated by a third party just like movies are. If something is rated E (everyone) I think it should be fair game to use in class. With that said of course, some parents may take issue with games that are rated E, just like some parents might opt not to let their children see a movie that is rated G. I think the best option when planning to use a game or movie in class is to give parents a heads-up in your weekly newsletter or class blog, that gives parents the chance to follow up with you with any questions or concerns before you use the material.
Hey Jason,
ReplyDeleteTo answer your question on how teachers can persuade student parents that video games are effective for their children is by having a workshop for all parents to attend the school computer lab. The work shop will consist of all researched games that helps students with problem solving and inquiry skills and the parents will be provided with a grading rubric to record their responses to every game that they play at the workshop. This workshop would be held once a month to introduce new games for each unit so that parents can experience the benefits of these games first hand.